


Before, After, and Everything Inbetween

by the_good_ship_tardis



Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Charlie characterization, M/M, Quill dealing with life on Earth and Charlie, Somewhat Fluffy, implied suicidal thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-07 01:45:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11048703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_good_ship_tardis/pseuds/the_good_ship_tardis
Summary: Charlie, Matteusz, and Quill, beyond their adventures portrayed in the show. Quill struggles with adjusting to her new life, and Matteusz tries to understand his alien boyfriend. Charlie isn't exactly sure how he's going to deal with everything that's going on in his life, but he has Matteusz to help him.





	1. An Unusual Physics Class

**Author's Note:**

> Matteusz meets Charlie Smith for the first time, and he notices that there's something off about him, he just doesn't know what. Still, he's already taken with him, from the first time their eyes meet.
> 
> Sooo...this is just something I'm trying out for the first time, not exactly sure how it's going to end. This story is going to be told from Charlie, Matteusz, and Quill's perspectives, but mainly from Charlie's, and the next chapter is from his POV. I'm planning to focus mainly on Charlie's emotional/mental take on what's happening, and his relationships with Matteusz and Quill, but comment if you want me to incorporate anything else. Thanks for reading!

Matteusz did not know what he had been expecting when Charlie Smith first walked into the door of the physics classroom, but it certainly had not been this. 

He had, of course, known of the new student like everyone else, but like everyone else, he had shown no interest. They all knew what to expect at Coal Hill. Another rich, snobby kid who thought he would always get things his way, who would complain about the endless parade of work until he finally accepted it. They had seen it before, and no one was eager to see it again. 

Before Charlie had walked in, Matteusz had been absentmindedly fidgeting with the bracelets that dangled loosely around his wrists as the class sat in silence, the headmaster looking as bored as the rest of them. He was beginning to wonder if the new physics teacher would never show up when she finally walked in. 

She wore an immaculate dress suit, her blonde hair was cut in a perfect bob, and her heels echoed against the tile floor harshly as she treaded into the room. She swept her eyes across the classroom, and it seemed that was tempted to give a contemptuous smirk, but she kept her lips pressed in a thin line. She turned her gaze to Headmaster Armitage, who was sitting in her seat.

“I think I can quite handle the class now,” she said sharply.

He jumped up, and looked at her, almost astonished that she had walked in.

“Oh yes-I’m so sorry. Class, this is Ms. Quill, your new physics teacher. I trust you will treat her with the respect and kindness that we expect of all our students here at Coal Hill. Ms. Quill, this is your physics class. I hope you will find them to be a good bunch.”

Ms. Quill continued to stare at him. He seemed startled that she wasn’t saying anything in response, but he took it into stride.

“Well, I suppose that’s all that’s needed to be said. Good day, all.”

He sat up and watched out of the room, while Ms. Quill watched with a degree of fascination.

“Tedious, wasn’t that?” she asked, turning to the rest of the class. “I will never understand why people find it so necessary to be ‘polite’. I suppose that’s why none of you ever seem to get anything done, everyone too busy being polite. I hope you find it in you to get some work done in this class, or I assure you, none of you will ever see the hallway outside this classroom. I came here to teach you, and as fully awful as I understand the task will be, I expect you to learn. Everyone understand?”

Everyone around Matteusz was looking at Ms. Quill with wide, frightened eyes, particularly April MacLean, the nice girl with perfect grades. Here were the prodigies, the geniuses, the brilliant kids. No one them ever got yelled at. No one of them were used to anyone speaking to them that way. Matteusz knew what it felt like to be yelled at, but even he was in a degree of shock at Ms. Quill’s harsh words. 

As they all gaped at Ms. Quill, there was knocking at the door, and Ms. Quill heaved a sigh, walked over, and, with some reluctance, pulled it open. It was then that Matteusz caught his first glimpse of Charlie Smith, a quiet, frightened boy who clutched his books to his chest like a life preserver. 

Charlie was beautiful. Not in a way that made people stop and stare, but in a quiet, unassuming way, the kind of beautiful that could be lost in a crowd if you weren’t looking hard enough for it. His blond hair was more golden than brown, and his eyes were a green that faded to blue. He looked slightly pale, standing in the doorway, and Matteusz couldn’t help but notice how that brought out his eyes. 

All of a sudden, without warning, Charlie stumbled, and dropped his books across the floor. Before any other student could react, Matteusz had dashed across the room, and he began picking up the scattered papers for Charlie. He gathered them up as best he could, and he placed them in Charlie’s hand, which was surprising cold, but very smooth. 

Charlie looked up at him, confusion written across his face. He didn’t whisper “thank you” as Matteusz had expected, he just grabbed the papers and stood back up. Matteusz hesitated a moment before getting up as well. The new student was certainly very odd, but Matteusz was accustomed to odd. After all, he had never been accused of being normal. 

Quietly, he made his way back to his seat, waiting expectedly as Ms. Quill got up from her desk to stand beside Charlie.

“I guess it’s time for that introduction thing now,” she said, her lip curling. She continued in a mocking tone. “Class, this is Charlie. Charlie, this is the class. Good, Charlie? Great. Now go sit down before I decide to give you detention for being late, or, even better, throw you out of my class. Everyone, open up your textbooks.”

Charlie seemed slightly overwhelmed by the sudden introduction, but he made his way to his desk, which was one over and one up from Matteusz’s. 

Ms. Quill had begun teaching, but Matteusz couldn’t take his eyes off of Charlie. He noted the careful, deliberate way that Charlie moved, the faintest bit of grace that accompanied his every motion. He saw the blush that colored Charlie’s cheeks when he couldn’t find his textbook, and how only his nimble fingers betrayed his nervousness. 

Leaning over, Matteusz tapped Charlie on the shoulder, and startled, Charlie turned to look at him. 

“You can borrow mine, if you’d like,” Matteusz whispered.

Charlie slowly nodded, and Matteusz handed him his textbook. He could get by without it, perhaps April would be willing to share. 

As Matteusz passed it over, he still didn’t get the thank you he had been expecting, but Charlie did take a good look at him, his eyes scanning Matteusz’s face. 

Matteusz returned to his seat, only to see Ms. Quill staring at him from the front of the class.

“Creating trouble already, are we?” she said, raising her eyebrow at him. “I wasn’t so inclined to memorize your names, but know this, talk in my class again, and I’ll have you writing apology notes on the blackboard for a month.”

Numbly, Matteusz nodded as she turned back to the board, scribbling down some complicated physics problem. He reached into his bag for some paper, only to see that a piece was already lying on his desk. He glanced around the room, but eventually let his gaze return to Charlie, who was diligently scribbling away at his paper. Matteusz would bet that he had perfect handwriting. 

Almost aware of the attention, Charlie turned around to give Matteusz a small, hesitant smile. Matteusz returned it.

Strange or not, Matteusz already liked Charlie Smith. 

******************************************************************************

Two periods later, during lunch, Matteusz saw Charlie again. This time he was standing alone, scanning the cafeteria for an empty seat. Matteusz was tempted to jump up and escort him over to his own table, but he resisted. After all, it was only Charlie’s first day. He didn’t want to intimidate him. 

He watched Charlie look over the cafeteria again, hoping for a familiar face, and his heart ached for him, but before he could say anything, Ms. Quill walked up to Charlie. Matteusz was startled, and stunned. Why would Ms. Quill, of all people, want to talk to Charlie? She whispered something to him and he responded in an annoyed, angry tone. They continued this hushed argument for a few minutes, until Ms. Quill seemed to notice people were watching, and she stalked away, Charlie at her heels. 

Matteusz couldn’t fathom what that might have been about, but he was distracted when April slid into the seat next to him. She didn’t seem to have too many friends, April. She got along with just about everyone, but Matteusz had often seen her sitting off by herself as groups of people laughed and talked together. Matteusz was a bit of an outcast too, he guessed, so it made sense that April and him spent some time together. Accompanying her was Tanya, another girl in their physics class, except Tanya was only 14 years old in a classroom of 17 year olds. 

“Hey, Matteusz,” April said, her voice friendly and casual. “So, what’d you think about our new physics teacher?”

“Well, she is...different,” Matteusz offered, playing with his pasta. He was thinking about the argument between Charlie and Ms. Quill.

“Of course she’s different, I’ve never met a stricter teacher,” Tanya put in. “I heard she’s already given ten kids detention since we left her class, and one of them left the room in tears.” 

“And the problems she gives us are nearly impossible to solve,” April added. 

“I bet she’s just one of those people who doesn’t like kids,” Tanya said thoughtfully. “I mean, I would have thought that you needed to like kids to become a teacher, but I guess some people just really like teaching.”

“I get the feeling that she doesn’t like that very much either,” Matteusz pointed out. 

For a minute, the conversation stopped as they each ate a little of their lunches, but April started it up again.

“And what do you think of that new kid, Charlie?” she asked, her eyes lighting up a bit.

“Seems kind of odd to me,” Tanya replied, seemingly uninterested.

“He was quite nice when I helped him with his books,” Matteusz responded coldly.

Tanya looked up, realizing that Matteusz had taken her statement the wrong way.

“Not bad odd,” she corrected herself. “Just different odd. It was like he’d never set foot in a classroom before when he walked in.”

“Maybe he’s just shy,” April said. “It was probably hard for him to come to a new school and meet new people. I’d be nervous too.”

“He didn’t strike me as nervous though,” Tanya argued. “He looked completely out of place.”

“Well, anyone would be!” April said, throwing up her hands in exasperation. “Anyways, how could he never have set foot in a classroom before? That makes no sense.”

“I was just pointing it out,” Tanya responded, equally exasperated. “That doesn’t mean that it’s true.”

“It doesn’t matter,” April replied. “It’s not like it’s important anyways. Where he comes from is his own business, and I don’t exactly plan to intrude.”

They each looked down at their lunches in silence, different thoughts on their minds. A few moments later, the shrill cry of the bell caused them to jump up from their seats. Matteusz threw away the remains of his mostly untouched meal, and he took the opportunity to linger as the cafeteria emptied of students. As he was about to leave, his waiting seemed to have paid off, since he saw Charlie, walking past the open doors of the cafeteria. Matteusz bounded up the steps and wrestled his way to Charlie’s side.

“Is everything okay?” he asked Charlie, his brow crinkling as he frowned.

“Yes, of course it is, why wouldn’t it be? Why are you asking me? I haven’t done anything   
wrong,” Charlie answered in a rush. He appeared to be very flustered, his sweater was rumpled, his hair was all over the place, and his face was slightly flushed.

“Oh, well I just thought, because I saw you going off with Ms. Quill...” Matteusz said hesitantly.

Charlie looked a little surprised, but he quickly recovered.

“She’s not really that frightening, you know,” Charlie said, almost bemused. “She can’t hurt me, so I don’t see the need for concern.”

“Why would she hurt you?” Matteusz asked, even more confused than before. “She is a teacher, they are not allowed to hurt students.”

“It-it doesn’t matter,” Charlie stuttered. “I’m very sorry, but I must be going to my class now, I’m afraid I’m going to be late

He brushed past Matteusz, walking quickly down the hallway.

Matteusz was startled by the sudden goodbye. There was something different about Charlie, that he couldn’t quite understand. Perhaps it was just as April had said, he was nervous and simply settling in. With a sigh, he hurried down the hallway to science.


	2. Behind Closed Doors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Charlie and Quill are left alone at home, and thus comes the obligatory argument.

Everything had come at once.

When asked about the events, Charlie couldn’t order them as simply and neatly as first, second, and third. Certain things stood out to him, little flashes of memory, like the photographs that humans loved on Earth. He remembered the blood and the screams and the swords. He remembered watching his parents die, and he remembered escaping. He remembered clutching the Cabinet of Souls to his chest as he ran, his last possible connection to his people. His last duty to them as the prince. He remembered his arrival on Earth and the strangeness of it, how different it was. But he could not remember what had happened first, second, and third. As far as his mind was concerned, these were the events that had changed his life in an instant, so why did it matter what order they might come in? They had happened, and they were engraved forever in Charlie’s memory. He could do nothing to change them. 

Maybe Earth would not have seemed so strange if their was someone to guide him, someone to help him navigate the treacherous roads of social conduct and this so-called pop culture. But Charlie had no one. All he had left was Quill, and she didn’t do anymore than complain everyday about the arn in her head, and how much she hated Charlie. He wished he could shut her up sometimes, but he needed her. She was the only protection he had left, no matter how much she hated it. He wasn’t exactly happy with the arrangement either. 

Still, it was her punishment, and she was forced to serve it, whether she wanted to or not. Charlie’s hands tightened as he thought of the ruthlessness she had displayed, the Rhodians she had murdered without a second thought. Yes, it was just that she was bound to him. It was as much as she deserved. 

The first days and weeks on Earth seemed like a blur, and nothing was coherent until yesterday, when Charlie had arrived at Coal Hill. Of all the ways he had had to adjust to Earth, going to school was the hardest. It seemed he was faced with a new challenge at every corner, and Quill wasn’t helping. She belittled him mercilessly in physics class, which he supposed was her petty way at getting back at him. She had yelled at him during lunchtime, telling him that it wasn’t her job to cover for him if he slipped up. He had accidentally talked about Rhodia during his maths lesson, although he thought that he had managed to brush it off. Apparently not.

When he returned from arguing with Quill, he was angry and frustrated, annoyed that she wasn’t helping things to move along more smoothly. Matteusz had come up to him, and it was only after the disastrous meeting that Charlie wondered if Matteusz really had been concerned about his well-being. If he wasn’t just trying to pry into Charlie’s personal affairs. 

Matteusz was one of the more confusing parts of Charlie’s new life. He had seemed nice, when Charlie first met him, but he didn’t know if that was what humans all did, or if Matteusz was just an exception. He looked nice too, but Charlie knew that he shouldn’t be focusing on Matteusz. His job was to stay alive and protect the Cabinet of Souls, not talk to pretty humans because they acted nice.

He was currently seated in a chair, his backpack draped over a nearby table, a pencil in his hand. He was staring a complicated maths problem, although it really wasn’t that hard. He was just distracted. He was further distracted when Quill flew in, slamming the door behind her.

“The nerve of that woman!” she snapped, viciously throwing her bag to the floor. “As if she could tell me how to run my class. ‘Oh Andrea, maybe you could try being a little nicer your students.’ Why should I care? They seem to exist to make my life miserable, so I thought I’d return the favor.”

Charlie now had his full attention focused on her. 

“What happened?” he asked cautiously.

“Your damn school happened,” she snarled. “I’ve never met a ruder race than these humans. And they can’t even think to pronounce my name correctly! ‘Andrea, do this. Andrea, run a copy for me. Andrea, pick up those papers from the office. Andrea, be nicer to your students.’ Andrea, Andrea, Andrea. I was a warrior, I am war itself. I am not a...schoolteacher!”

“We didn’t tell them our real names,” Charlie pointed out.

“I know that!” she shouted, turning on him. “It’s all your fault I’m even this situation to begin with. Oh, it only I could get this-this thing out of my head. You’d all be dead in an instant.”

She stopped, winced, and clutched at her head.

“And there is goes again,” she muttered. “If you need me, I’ll be upstairs, wondering how I came to be enslaved to a brat with the title of prince. Perhaps if I bang my head against the table enough times, it’ll be enough to drown out the sounds of the idiots I had to spend my day with.”

“It isn’t slavery, it’s your punishment,” Charlie called after her, as she headed up the stairs.

“Shut up!” she yelled back, then winced again. 

Charlie watched her go, shaking his head slightly. She never missed a chance to argue with him, no matter how insignificant the issue might be. She had reason to hate him, but he rarely provoked her. Today was not going to be a good day. 

He finished his homework quickly, most of the Earth schoolwork was simple. By the time he was done, Quill had finished sulking, and she came back downstairs, still looking unhappy. She put a frozen meal into the microwave, an invention that Charlie still didn’t understand, and they ate dinner in silence, without any comment from either side. Charlie suspected that Quill was still fuming over her day, and he wasn’t eager to do anything to stir up her rage. 

When they finished, Quill prodded back upstairs, probably to watch more of those cat videos that she loved. Charlie stayed downstairs, staring out the window at the fading dusk. The streetlamps were just beginning to go on, and a few people still walked around, sticking close to the hedges that bordered many houses. On Rhodia, everything was so different. Charlie could recall the festivities that had taken place in the evenings, and the celebrations that sunset had brung. There, he was a prince. Here, he was another ordinary human. Although, it wasn’t like he had enjoyed being a prince very much when he had been. The tedious speeches, the lessons on protocol, the countless ceremonies. He had been groomed for the role since he could talk, and he hated it. Still, he would trade anything for it, if only it brought back his people. 

He hadn’t loved his parents, not in the way humans loved on Earth. He had cared for them, and they had cared for him, but there was no love in the bond. Charlie had just been another pawn in their game for power. They had never loved him. Or perhaps they had. Charlie remembered his mother’s final moments, the look in her eyes when she caught his gaze, and his throat caught when he remembered the way his father had said his name. Perhaps there had been love. But he would never know now, because they were gone.

He thought of Quill for a second, mostly because she was making an unreasonable amount of noise upstairs. She’d lost all her people too, but, unlike Charlie, she’d never seemed bothered by it. It was like it never affected her at all, and Charlie wondered if she was truly heartless. All the months he had been with her, he hoped that there might be some compassion buried inside her, but if there was, she had hidden it so well that even she could not find it. 

Almost as though she was responding to his thoughts, she suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs, looking more disgruntled than ever, but ever so slightly satisfied.

“I may have-” she paused, “I may have broken your laptop upstairs by accident.”

Charlie shot to his feet, alarmed.

“By accident?” he questioned. “And what do you mean by broken?”

“By broken I mean dented and sort of, smashed in the middle” she explained, examining her nails. “And by accident...well, perhaps it was more like a fit of temper.”

“Why would you break it?” Charlie wailed, looking dismayed.

“Because it’s the only way I can hope to hurt you!” she fired back. “I’m trapped here, there’s the arn in my head, I have to play the role of a schoolteacher, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about any of the above circumstances. A lesser Quill would already be insane by now.”

“That doesn’t mean you can break my things!” Charlie replied. “And besides, wouldn’t the arn punish you for that?” 

“Oh, it is,” Quill answered, gripping onto the staircase tightly.

Charlie noticed that she looked rather pale, although she was forcing herself to keep a neutral, and slightly haughty expression. 

“I just thought we might be allies in this, somehow,” he said finally, after a long silence. “Instead, you seem intent on getting back at me in any way you can find, and you don’t seem grateful that you escaped at all. All your people are dead! Aren’t you happy you aren’t among them?”

“Don’t you dare talk me about being grateful!” Quill screeched, suddenly furious. “You think you know loss, princeling? The Quill I loved was murdered right in front of me, not by the Shadowkin, but by your people! You have me enslaved to you, I am living a shadow of the life I once had! You can’t talk to me like you’re high and mighty, the perfect little prince. You will never be my ally, and you can never even try to understand what I lost.”

“You think that I haven’t lost my people too?” Charlie asked, his voice deadly quiet. “Every single day, I wonder how I can get back to them, I wonder if death is a kinder option than living life without them. I hate myself because I wasn’t able to save them. I was supposed to be their prince, but I couldn’t save any of them. Not even the children, as they begged for mercy, not even my parents. They were my whole life, Quill, and now they are all gone.”

Quill fell silent for a moment, before shooting him another withering glare.

“My life isn’t worth living because of what your people did to me.”

Without saying anything else, she stormed past Charlie and pushed open the front door, closing it with a bang. From the window, Charlie could tell that she was walking down the street, moving away from the house as fast as she could.

She would never understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing Charlie, he's such an interesting character, but I hope I'm doing an okay job with him. His relationship with Quill is, in my opinion, the most fascinating on the show, and I've enjoyed exploring it. I'm thinking the next chapter will be in Quill's POV, so watch out for that.


End file.
